Neither team had an easy road through the National League Division Series round, but the Los Angeles Dodgers and Milwaukee Brewers both made it to the National League Championship Series in fairly good shape.

The Dodgers are back in familiar territory, one series win away from the World Series, and they’ll be looking to be MLB’s first repeat champion since the New York Yankees in 2000. The Brewers, meanwhile, are trying to get back to the Fall Classic for the first time since 1982 — when they were an American League team. Milwaukee has the home-field advantage, while Los Angeles has the benefit of having finished the NLDS in four games. Who will take home the National League crown? Our MLB experts make their picks:

Staff predictions for the NLCS

Christian Yelich and the Brewers are likely to put the Dodgers’ defense to the test. (Kevork Djansezian / Getty Images)

This series could easily be positioned as a David vs. Goliath battle with more than $200 million separating the two clubs’ payrolls and several million separating the populations of the teams’ home cities. But that would be underselling just how good all season the Brewers have been and how well they played the Dodgers during the regular season (6-0). The Dodgers’ rotation is the healthiest its been all year, however, and those arms have our experts giving L.A. a slight edge in what looks like it will be a very competitive series. Below is a selection of our experts’ thoughts on who they think will win the National League pennant.

Chad Jennings (LA): It’s too easy to say the Dodgers are simply more talented, but honestly, these are the Dodgers as we imagined them back in April. Their rotation is healthy again, and while their bullpen is a mess, they’ve found ways to make the mess work (and frankly, the Brewers have their own questions in the rotation). The Dodgers just beat the Phillies despite basically all of their key hitters struggling. Is Shohei Ohtani really going to hit .056 again? Is Freddie Freeman going to slug .267? The Dodgers were built to win in October, and it shows. They have some problems, but they have even more solutions.

Ian O’Connor (MIL): Chemistry, home-field advantage and, most importantly, Pat Murphy absolutely needs to win a ring at some point. Also, the Dodgers aren’t quite what they were last year.

Levi Weaver (LA): It’s all well and good to point out that the Brewers have the home-field advantage because “they won more games than the Dodgers, so how can this reeeeeeally be a David vs. Goliath matchup? Got ya there!” no you don’t. That was the regular-season Dodgers. The Dodgers who had, like, 2 1/2 starting pitchers and seemingly couldn’t be bothered to lock in for a midseason matchup against mere humans. Have these Dodgers, with their enough-starters-to-stash-three-of-them-in-the-bullpen staff, looked at all like those Dodgers? Not to me, they haven’t. I would always rather see a new team in the WS, but if you’re asking who I think will make it? The October Dodgers.

Grant Brisbee (MIL): If they could make the Cubs’ defense sweat, they’ll do a number on the Dodgers’ defense.

Katie Woo (LA): The juxtaposition between these teams is real. One one hand, you have a billion dollar baseball team, where advancing to the World Series is the rule, not the exception. Then there’s Milwaukee, a small-market, low payroll organization that has thrived in building it’s own team based on its exceptional player development system. The Brewers are athletic, smart and relentless on the bases. The qualms about the Dodgers’ bullpen are valid, especially in a best-of-seven series — as are the concerns regarding Ohtani’s abysmal offensive production. But it’s still the Dodgers. And they will always be the team to beat.

Will Sammon (MIL): There’s no good reason to pick against baseball’s best team. Scouts and executives from different teams have told me they wish their respective clubs played more like the Brewers. They lack some power and starting pitching, but they bought into an identity. Management asks specific players to perform specific tasks. Usually, it works. Just watch the way they pitch, run, hit, defend — and win.

Mitch Bannon (LA): Two months ago, I would’ve confidently taken the Brewers. But they just don’t have the pitching to survive a seven-game series against the Dodgers’ lineup right now.

Jayson Stark (MIL): I’m not listening to the part of my brain that says the Dodgers have the best roster in the sport and by far the better rotation in this series. I’m listening to the part that says no champs repeat anymore in this sport. And I’m at the point where I can’t pick against that Brewers magic. The Brewers stole nine bases and relentlessly pestered the Dodgers with their legs this season, and also got to the bullpen and scored late in every game. One of these days in this postseason, the Dodgers’ non-Sasaki bullpen issues will catch up with them. So Brewers in seven!

Dennis Lin (LA): The Brewers have one player on a nine-figure contract. The Dodgers have seven.

C. Trent Rosecrans (MIL): Remember last October when the Dodgers made the Yankees look like a poorly coached high school team? Well, after the baseball world seemed to think the Dodgers invented the wheel play last week, wait until they see this Brewers team play. The Dodgers are more talented, but the Brewers just don’t make too many mistakes. Brewers in five.

Jon Greenberg (LA): The Brewers are a great story and a fine team, but the Dodgers are built for October in a way the Cubs were not. It would be cool if Milwaukee won but I think it’s Dodgers in five.

David O’Brien (MIL): The depth of their pitching staff, balance of their lineup and the proverbial “it” factor will allow the Brewers to continue their roll and further quash their rep as postseason failures. They’re not at all cowed by the Dodgers’ star power, and home-field advantage at Milwaukee will be significant.

Andy McCullough (LA): Unlike the Phillies, the Brewers do not have lefty starters who can shut down Ohtani.

Johnny Flores Jr. (MIL): Fundamentals reign supreme during the postseason, and few are as sound at the basics as Murphy’s crew of “Average Joes.”

Sahadev Sharma (LA): The starting pitching is healthy and the Dodgers are looking like the machine most expected entering the season. The Brewers are tough to beat and the Dodgers traditional relievers are banged up, but their rotation depth allows them to beef up the bullpen. The expectation here is that they just overpower Milwaukee.

Chandler Rome (LA): All the Brewers’ nicknames are nice — Miz, Sal, Yelli, Willy, Woody, whatever else they have. Murphy making everyone introduce themselves at news conferences is charming. The candor and call-outs that come afterward is refreshing. Having Bob Uecker’s spirit makes Milwaukee a hard team to pick against, but the Dodgers’ starpower and starting pitching is too much to overlook.